Troy's Planning Commission and Historic Preservation
Vol. III, No. 171 - Perhaps it's time to take a page out of Piqua's playbook
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Throughout November, this publication is giving our readers an opportunity where our readers can support local food pantries. Every dollar received from our “Buy Me a Coffee” Page will be given to New Path Food Pantries.
We started November with a modest goal to raise $750. After the 13th day of our campaign, our community has raised $2,360! Our new goal for November is to raise $2,500. Do you want to be part of this effort, along with 57 other donors to help support our efforts? You can by making a donation here:
The City of Troy, Ohio, is a bit of an anomoly because of its government and how its people make decisions about the future. Troy uses a structure called a “statutory city.” That simply means the city follows rules written in state law, rather than making its own local city charter. Many other cities in this part of Ohio have these special documents—called charters—which let them set up their own rules, but Troy’s government is built on what the state writes in the Ohio Revised Code.
This difference in government changes how planning decisions are made. In any city, planning commissions play an important part. They help with choices about how land can be used, giving advice on things like zoning or how neighborhoods can grow. In Troy, the Planning Commission is the appointed board that reviews changes to buildings in the downtown historic district, such as what color a building can be painted or what kind of sign goes in the window.
When the state makes the rules for a planning commission, the law says it has seven members. Some of those members are local officials, like the Mayor and the President of the Park Board, along with the Director of Public Service and Safety. The other members are local citizens who are appointed to serve for six years. These folks spend time looking carefully at what is best for Troy, and they do the work without pay. In a charter city, the group might be all citizens—meaning ordinary people who care about their town. That makes Troy a little different from its neighbors, because several people on the commission already work for the city or are local leaders already.
Over the years, something has changed. In the past, most of what the planning commission did was about planning for the future: looking at how land should be used, thinking about new subdivisions, and deciding what kinds of buildings could go in empty lots. These were big discussions about how the city would grow. Lately, though, the commission doesn’t spend as much time on those big planning choices. Instead, their meetings and decisions focus more on improvements to buildings—especially those in the downtown historic district. They talk about whether someone can put up a new sign, what color paint can be used on old bricks, and whether old buildings can get new windows.
It’s clear that the historic district is a special part of Troy, and it’s important to take care of buildings that have been there for so long. But when most of the work is about deciding the details of building changes, the big-picture planning gets pushed to the side. Some people in Troy think the city could learn from its neighbor, Piqua. Instead of having the planning commission handle all the details about building appearances, Piqua has a special group—the City Historic Review Commission—that takes on those jobs. That way, the planning commission can go back to what it was really meant to do: think about the future of the whole city and work on the bigger questions about land, growth, and development.
With things changing over time, it might be time for Troy to try something new. Piqua’s way of splitting improvement reviews from the work of the planning commission seems to work well for them. Troy could start a conversation about whether it’s time to create its own historic review commission. By doing that, the planning commission could spend more energy on big, important choices that guide how the city grows and changes, while another group makes sure historic buildings look their best. That might be the best way for both the city’s future and its past to be protected and cared for.
Participate in our November Community Survey!
Back when this project was kicked off over two years ago, this newsletter was imagined as a helpful tool to not only help have our residents understand their community, but also to receive feedback and get ideas on how residents perceived where our hometowns was headed.
In order to achieve that goal, the decision was made to release a small survey that would ask residents their thoughts and feelings every two months. Every month seemed excessive, yet, once a quarter didn’t seem quite frequent enough. The idea was to help create a picture of the sentiment in the community and measure that sentiment over time.
So, throughout November, you can participate in our survey to give your thoughts and feelings on the direction of your hometown!
You can access the survey here:
Thanks for your time and your participation! It is greatly appreciated!
A New Handbook to grow Civic Capacity!
Recently, we created a new digital handbook, “The Citizen’s Guide to Public Records”. This handbook is designed to help residents have a better understanding of public meetings and meeting records. It’s filled with templates, ideas and other information that will open a new world of public affairs.
Also, if you have ideas for future handbooks, please let us know at pinnaclestrategiesltd@gmail.com.
Want to Learn More About Troy’s Businesses?
Our publication has recently released our September 2025 Economic Abstract, the most comprehensive and up-to-date report on the businesses and industries in the City of Troy. For those that want to understand our community’s business and industries, this is a must-have report.
Thank you to our New Media Partners!
Recently, many of our stories has been showing up on the local news website, www.mymiamicounty.com. We are grateful for the good folks for sharing our work with their audience and we would encourage our readers to check them out at their website!
Our publication would also like to recognize the good work being done at www.piquanewsnow.com. Piqua News Now is a new web-based news and information site for the Miami County area, with a specific focus on Piqua!
In addition, the good folks at Piqua News Now have started a new, 24-hour streaming YouTube channel. This channel is awesome with continuous weather updates and more importantly, it provides a 24-hour audio feed from county wide dispatch. Check it out here!
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